The Conseil des Innus de Pessamit will send a formal notice to the Quebec government to force it to protect the woodland caribou. Representatives of various First Nations criticize in the same breath the commission which is currently conducting consultations on the means of limiting the economic impacts of the protection of the species, judging that this serves above all as a pretext for not taking action.
Following a meeting with the members of the “Independent Commission on Forest and Mountain Caribou” set up by the Legault government, the Innus announced on Wednesday that they will send a formal notice to force the government to act. to avoid the disappearance of the endangered deer.
If Quebec refuses to protect the habitat of the species, which is increasingly disturbed by logging, the Conseil des Innus de Pessamit promises that it “will go ahead with legal action in order to defend its rights and to compel the government to respect its obligations towards the First Nation”.
“With all due respect to the members of the Commission, the time is no longer for discussions, but for action,” argued the head of Pessamit, Jean-Marie Vollant. The latter thus recalled the “sacred” nature of this animal, to which the Innu have been linked for “millennia”. “This is about our identity, our culture, our territory, and our rights. We demand respect and will act accordingly,” said Mr. Vollant.
“The caribou thus represents a vital component of the Innu culture, and its decline represents a cultural loss with inestimable consequences,” added Bryan Mark, Deputy Chief Bearer of the Innu Nation on the Caribou File, as part of a point of hurry.
Unnecessary commission
For the Innu Council of Pessamit, the Innu Council Takuaikan Uashat mak Mani-utenam and the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec of Labrador, the establishment of the Independent Commission on Woodland Caribou at the end of 2021 is above all a means to save time and avoid better protecting the last forest habitats essential to the survival of deer.
“The scientific community is unanimous. We know what must be done to protect the caribou. We must act. But the Commission does not include any expert on the species and the consultations of the First Nations do not respect the government’s obligations”, insisted Jérôme Bacon St-Onge, vice-chief of the Council of Pessamit, in an interview with the To have to.
In another press release also published on Wednesday, the Innu Council Takuaikan Uashat mak Mani-utenam (ITUM) for its part announced that it will not participate in the work of the Commission, “considering the lack of credibility of the mandate and the absence of legitimacy of commissioners.
“For us, Quebec’s decision to create this commission is just one more event showing that Quebec prefers the protection of forestry companies and jobs, to the detriment of the preservation of the Atiku”, the caribou , lamented the head of ITUM, Mike Mckenzie.
Researchers Martin-Hugues St-Laurent and Pierre Drapeau both believe that the Independent Commission relies on scenarios that risk precipitating the decline of the species. It is in particular a question of “limiting to approximately 35%” the rate of disturbance of the zones established as “vast favorable spaces”. However, at this rate, caribou have barely a 60% chance of maintaining themselves, underlines specialist Martin-Hugues St-Laurent. “With a disturbance rate of 35%, we reach the threshold of imbalance, and the point where we find ourselves with maximum uncertainty,” he insists.
Protected area
The Innu Council also demands the immediate implementation of the Pipmuacan protected area project, which it had proposed in 2020 in order to protect 2761 km2 territory suitable for woodland caribou. This project aimed to protect the last intact forest massifs in an area located approximately 150 kilometers northeast of the city of Saguenay.
However, the Legault government rejected this project when determining the list of protected areas allowing it to achieve its objective of protecting the territory, before the end of 2020. No less than 83 projects located in the southern portion of Quebec were then been neglected, including a dozen that would have increased the protection of caribou-friendly habitats.
These habitats could eventually be protected by a decree from the federal government, which has promised to act to save the forest-dwelling caribou, if the Legault government delays putting in place the necessary measures to curb the decline of the species. The order in question would be issued under the provisions of the federal Species at Risk Act, which allows Ottawa to impose measures to protect critical caribou habitat, in the absence of sufficient measures implemented by Quebec.
The Legault government, however, criticized the intentions of the federal government. According to him, the Trudeau government should not intervene in Quebec territory for the protection of caribou, judging that this falls within the jurisdiction of the province. A Quebec strategy must be announced in 2023, according to what the CAQ government has already promised, after having postponed the adoption of such a protection plan.
In April, the Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks, Pierre Dufour, openly criticized an Innu nation, accusing it of harming the province’s efforts to protect caribou.